


arise and go

by trixiechick



Category: Free!
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 10:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4742750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trixiechick/pseuds/trixiechick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin finds a strange refuge from his wicked stepfather.</p>
            </blockquote>





	arise and go

**Author's Note:**

> written for a kind anon's request... although i kinda deviated far from the original request, plus this got really angsty, whoops, sorry. ;___; the original request was: MakoRin, Rin is the proud owner of a new estate out in the countryside and Makoto is the tree spirit residing in a huge 500year old tree on Rin's estate. Rin finds out about Makoto when he decides to cut the tree down and everything in his garden becomes droopy and sad overnight. Or maybe mako spoke to him in a dream. Haru is obvsly the water spirit living in the creek who cuts off Rin's water supply in the bath when he thinks Rin is being annoying. this is... different, but inspired by??? sorry!!

Rin ran. He shucked off his shoes when he got down the steps and out onto the stones leading to the formal garden. Stupid shoes, stupid stiff leather, stupid soles with no traction, stupid narrow shoes that pinched his toes together, and he told his mother that but she just smiled nervously at the shopgirl and told him that they were _good_ shoes and that they weren't supposed to feel like sneakers. He ran through the garden, thinking that he _knew_ how shoes were supposed to feel, and he didn't need to feel embarrassed about it in front of some shopgirl who probably didn't think badly of him, anyway. He tore off the stupid girly bow from around his neck and then he just shed his jacket, too. He ran past the row of hedges at the border of the garden, and across the soft grass that was all perfectly manicured, and his stupid stepfather probably made some poor sap measure each blade or something to be sure it _was_ perfectly manicured.

He ran, cursing the stupid everything, his legs pumping and his arms pumping, his vision blurring. No one wanted to see him cry, and he didn't want anyone to see it anyway, he was tired of seeing people turn their faces away or looking exasperated at him. He wasn't being dramatic at all! His life was ruined and his stupid stepfather was the reason!

He ran into the copse of trees, and the needles and the twigs on the ground hurt his feet, so much that soon, he couldn't run anymore, but he kept pushing forward and forward, even without having any idea where he was going or what he was doing. He turned enough so that he could follow the small stream that was running through the woods. He knew that stream came near the house, so he couldn't be lost if he was near it. He could just follow it back and then, when he saw the house...

Rin came to a dead stop. Then what? He _hated_ that house. He hated his stepfather. He couldn't understand why his mother married him... after being married to Rin's dad, how could his mother want _that_ person? How could his sister like it there? Always having to wear fancy dresses and she could only play with dolls with cold, porcelain faces and freakishly lifelike hair... He _hated hated hated_ that house! Why didn't his mother and sister hate it, too? Why was it always _his_ fault? He could find his way back, but he didn't _want_ to go back!

Rin cried out, a noise that was a mix of misery and pain and rage and frustration, and he turned and started to kick the nearest tree. Of course, there was nothing to be gained from that. The tree was massive and silent, and his feet and calves were getting ripped up, but still. It was something he could do.

"Hey! Stop that!"

Rin spun around, furious at life and everything in it, prepared to snarl at whoever dared to tell him what to do. His whole body froze and all of his pent-up emotions felt like they had been _snipped_ off and dropped away. He blinked a few times.

He thought... but... no, of course that was...

For a second, he thought the boy in front of him had... some sort of inhuman sheen to him. Like, his skin and hair were not human-colored, and his clothes weren't clothes. But, it had to just be that Rin wasn't seeing clearly. Self-conscious, Rin wiped his cheeks, and then he puffed out his chest. "Who're you? Like... a gardener?"

"Eh?" The boy cocked his head to the side, blinking. "No, I'm... you can call me Makoto."

"Makoto," Rin repeated, and the boy smiled. "Huh. I have a girly name, too. I'm Rin. Er. Sorry about the tree and all... but I think it hurt me more'n'I hurt it. Just." Rin shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Er. I live in the big house, you know? We just moved in last month, my mom and my sis 'n' me. I guess you probably know that, I mean, you work here, or, well, I guess your dad does..." Rin was babbling. Just like the stream behind him, which seemed to be noisier than before. 

Makoto just smiled at him, a blank expression that was pleasant but unsettlingly emotionless. "Trees are more sensitive than you might think. But... you are..." He pointed at Rin's feet.

Rin looked down, and sure enough, his socks were torn up and his feet were swollen and red. He made a face, and looked at Makoto sheepishly. "Yeah, I, uh. I took off my shoes."

Makoto came closer, and he reached out and took Rin's hands. Rin looked at his hands in Makoto's hands, and he blushed, keeping his head down because he felt stupid for blushing for just that. "You should put your feet in Haru. You'll feel better."

Makoto was trying to lead Rin somewhere, but Rin stood still. He looked at Makoto quizzically. "Haru?"

"Haru!" Makoto laughed, pointing at stream, which just that moment gurgled as some water splashed up over a rock. That just amused Makoto more, though, and he tugged on Rin's hands. "Come on, come on!"

Rin let Makoto bring him closer to the water, but he frowned at the stream skeptically. "Are you sure it's clean?" The stream gurgled and... hissed? Maybe the stream led to a sewer or something?

"Of course! Trust me?" Makoto asked, and Rin did, he trusted Makoto, and he knew that he was trusting Makoto far more than he should, but he couldn't help it. He sat down on the ground where Makoto told him to, and he let Makoto take off his socks and put his feet in the water.

It was cool and nice, and Rin became aware of how sore and hurt his feet had been because suddenly they felt so much better. "Thank you," he smiled shyly at Makoto.

Makoto grinned, and this time, he seemed to genuinely feel happy. He sat down next to Rin, and pushed Rin's hair out of his face. "Pretty color..." he murmured, and Rin flushed again, but this time, he couldn't hide his face. "Are you running away from home?"

"Running... no... not, not _away_ away," Rin sighed, looking at his feet in the Haru stream. "Just... um. Running. Everyone hates me at home," he admitted.

"Why?" Makoto asked, sounding shocked.

Rin grinned at him crookedly. "Because... because... because... I hate getting dressed up to eat. And always having to use forks and knives because it's _Western_. I hate... stupid uncomfortable shoes! And condescending tutors who keep reminding me that I have to catch up to _my year_ because the stupid fancy private school is just _sooooo_ much better than my old school! I hate my stupid stepfather always taking calls at dinner and telling my mom what to wear, and I hate how I seem to be the only one who cares. And... I miss my friends! I had lots of friends, and I used to see Sousuke every day, and mom said we could still visit and stuff, but I haven't seen anyone ever since we got here! And... I haven't been swimming! Mom said we could swim everyday, but _kids aren't allowed in the pool because it's not safe_ , like hell, I coulda taken the lifeguard test if we were back home at the public pool. And... and... and... I miss my dad," Rin's shoulders slumped, and he curled his toes up under the cool waves. "He's... he's only been dead a year. Just about. And. I can't believe... my mom... remarried... so soon..." His voice got quieter and quieter and his chin got lower, until he was pretty sure that Makoto couldn't hear him anyway, but that was fine, because he thought if he was sure that Makoto _could_ hear him, he might start to cry.

"Oh... that's... I'm sorry," Makoto sincerely replied quietly, and he slipped his fingers between Rin's and squeezed Rin's hand. 

Makoto just sat next to him, and he held Rin's hand, and he didn't say anything as Rin's shoulders started to shake. Slowly, Rin leaned in, almost falling against Makoto's slim body, but Makoto didn't say anything then, either, just stayed still and let Rin cry against him silently. 

Time passed, and Rin's feet didn't feel cold anymore, and he didn't feel like crying anymore. He didn't feel anything, except that being emptied out felt _good_ in a strange way. He sat up straight, rubbing his face with his sleeve. He smiled crookedly at Makoto and half-heartedly shrugged. "Th-thanks... S-sorry... I probably seem strange."

"Not at all!" Makoto beamed, looking slightly angelic. "I like you!"

Rin flushed and looked away. "Er... well... th-thanks..."

Makoto laughed, and bumped against Rin. "But, please don't kick anymore trees."

Snickering, Rin glanced at Makoto, and then Makoto's amusement bubbled over to Rin, and he was laughing, too. "Right, right, got it. Just so you know, I'm not _usually_ a tree-kicker."

The stream bubbled in a somehow snarky way, but Rin was only peripherally aware as Makoto laughed heartily, and perhaps that was the first time Rin heard him laugh because he was honestly amused by something. "That's good! It's not good for you, either! Here, wait here..."

Makoto jumped to his feet and then he started to look around the foliage near the ground, poking at the leaves. Rin was about to ask what he was doing when he cried out _Ah-ha!_ and pulled off a leaf. He crushed it in his hand, and trotted back to Rin.

Plopping down next to Rin again, Makoto winked. "Here, let me see your feet." Mutely, Rin pulled his feet out of the stream, and let Makoto have access to them. Makoto picked up Rin's right foot first, and rubbed the soles with the crushed leaf. Then, he did the same with the left. "There! That should be better!"

Rin looked at his feet, surprised that they looked so clean and smooth, no blemishes or cuts or sores. He didn't think medicinal herbs worked like that... maybe the stream? He smiled brightly at Makoto. "You're really smart! Thanks!"

"Eh?" Makoto looked at Rin, confused. "You're welcome!"

Rin started to laugh, but his stomach rumbled, and he realized that it was beginning to get dark, and he was far from home, even though he hadn't left his stupid stepfather's property. Shyly, he looked around. Actually... it was already very dark, wasn't it? But... he could still see Makoto clearly, could see the green of his eyes, so... He looked up at the sky, thinking perhaps the moon... "I think I have to go home," he said sadly.

"Ah..." Makoto nodded. "Do you need help going back?"

Rin felt awkward. Could they go back together? But... perhaps the gardener's family lived in the other direction or something, he didn't even know. His stepfather's property was too stupidly big. "I can find it," he said with certainty. Makoto didn't have to worry about him.

Makoto smiled, and took Rin's hands again, squeezing. "Come and visit again!"

Rin straightened up and smiled confidently. "I will!" He stood up and stretched out. "Thanks!" He walked with sure steps, following the stream. He looked back once, and Makoto was waving at him, so he waved. He took a couple more steps, and looked back again, but he couldn't see Makoto that time. It _was_ getting dark... he stepped up his pace, keeping his breathing even so he wouldn't think about how he was alone out in the woods. He _wasn't_ alone, was he, since he was walking with 'Haru.' He thought about how funny Makoto was, giving the dinky little stream a name, and he thought about Makoto's smile, and his green eyes... Before he knew it, Rin was at the clearing, and he could see the hulking form of the house, the lights in the windows judgmentally bright in contrast to the deep darkness of the surroundings. 

Rin hopped over Haru, and headed to the house. He paused, looking back. Had he... crossed the stream when he ran out here? But... he had to have, right? He was probably just running so hard that he hadn't noticed. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept his head down, going back home.

When he finally stepped inside the house, his mother came rushing out, and he felt guilty, knowing that he'd worried her. Whatever she was saying, though, and whatever she going to do, she was stopped in her tracks by her new husband's voice.

"Look at the mess you're tracking in! Dinner was served promptly at six thirty, young man. There is no dinner for hooligans who go tromping through the mud."

Rin looked at his mother, giving her a chance to say _something_ , but he only waited two heartbeats before he raised his chin and snidely declared, "I didn't want your stupid dinner _anyway_ ," and with all the pride his small body could muster, he marched off to his room.

He'd eat his pillow before he'd submit.

  


* * *

  


Turning to walk up the long, winding drive to the house, Rin set his shoulders, and straightened the strap across his chest, making his bag rest more comfortably against his hip. He liked it better when he had been in the same school as Gou. (And, yes, he knew she preferred _Kou_ , but that was because _stepfather_ preferred it, _their father_ had named her _Gou_ , and their _mother_ shouldn't go along with calling her Kou, she loved how she had named her children...) He'd been at his new middle school for a month now, though, and he'd gotten used to the walk home. 

Some girls from class had even showed him where the bakery they all liked was, so he'd gotten Gou a present! He didn't like these sweet things so much, but she did, so he wouldn't mind, just every now and again.

Unfortunately, as he was walking up the drive, a car came down. Rin stepped aside onto the grass, watching carefully to see who was in the passenger seat of the car. Luck was not with him, though. Instead of being his stepfather, as he'd hoped, it was his mother... and sister. He tried waving to them, but they were laughing together about something and never looked up. Sadly, Rin watched the car turn off the drive and onto the street. He waited a few moments, but he couldn't bear to bring himself to turn to face the house again. At best, there was no one but the servants there. Some of them were nice, like the maid and the butler who brought him food when his stepfather sent him away without dinner, but he thought most of them were snotty. 

Instead of going to the house, he turned and walked across the lawn, skirting around the property until he got to the copse of trees behind the house. Once he was surrounded by trees, he called out quietly, "Makoto?"

This was strange, he knew. He knew that it was odd that the gardener's son would always be hanging around with the trees. He knew, too, that the gardener did not live on the property. He knew these things were weird.

"Rin!" Makoto appeared behind him, beaming brightly.

Rin, unable to stop himself even if he tried, smiled back. "I brought cake!" 

Even if he knew it was odd, Makoto was the person who was always happiest to see him. Rin wasn't sure if his mother was ever happy anymore, but she always looked worried when she was with him, and Gou was happiest with her books and her toys and her dresses and her friends. 

"Cake?" Makoto titled his head quizzically, looking adorable, so Rin held out the small box tied up with string he'd gotten from the bakery.

"It's chocolate, with raspberries in it."

"Oh! I like raspberries!" Makoto happily declared, taking the box. He led Rin to where a tree had fallen, and they both sat down. The stream, Haru, made noise in the background. Makoto opened the box with some effort, and flattened it out, his mouth a little 'o' as he marveled at the slices of cake. "It's... really pretty!"

"Do you like sweet things?" Rin asked, stretching his legs out as he watched his friend struggle to pick up the cake neatly.

"...I do! I like sweet things best of all!" Makoto declared, and then he took a bite of cake. His eyes widened and he sucked his cheeks in, and then he burst out, his mouth full, "It's good!"

Rin laughed, feeling his stress just evaporate. Makoto _always_ had that effect on him. He was grateful for his odd friend. He ducked his head down and dropped his bag on the ground. "I'm glad. Some girls in my class showed me the bakery."

"Class?" Makoto asked, stuffing his face with cake.

"Yeah," Rin leaned back, looking up at the sky filtered through the leaves. "The girls in class are nicer than the boys, mostly. People in my school are pretty hoity-toity, but there are some who are ok."

Makoto clearly understood very little of what Rin was saying, but Rin always had the sense that Makoto understood what he was _feeling_. Makoto licked his fingers clean, and then he brushed Rin's bangs back. "Here, you should have some cake, too."

"You can have both," Rin offered, fixing his hair again.

"Really?" Makoto grinned, and how could Rin resist that face?

"Go for it," Rin nodded, winking.

Makoto shrugged, smiling. "If you insist!" He attacked the second piece of cake with even more vigor, being less mindful of keeping the icing from getting everywhere. He looked wild, like maybe he was an animal or something, but if he was...

Rin snickered to himself. If Makoto were an animal, he'd be a big, fluffy golden retriever who would lick everyone and always want to play.

Makoto looked at Rin sheepishly, and with his mouth full of cake, he asked, "What? Am I making a mess?"

"You are," Rin laughed. And then, impulsively, he swiped some icing off of Makoto's lips, and then sucked his thumb clean. "It's ok, though, it's good."

"I like chocolate, too!" Makoto happily agreed.

Rin felt relieved that Makoto hadn't thought he was weird or something to eat icing from Makoto's lips. He also felt relieved that he'd done it. Makoto had such a calming presence, even when he was hiding from squirrels, that Rin felt at peace. "I was going to eat it with my sister, but she and my mom went somewhere, so." Rin shrugged and looked at the ground disinterestedly.

"Ah," Makoto licked his lips clean. "Sorry about that. Do you go to your class with your sister?"

"No, she's still in grade school," Rin sighed. "I've moved up to middle school. I gets _loads_ of homework now," Rin complained.

Makoto just looked at him quizzically, so Rin bent over to open his bag, and pull out his notebook. He opened it up, and showed Makoto his notes from class.

"These are the problems we did in class together. Now, I have to do more of them on my own." He shouldn't have to explain homework to another kid, but... a kid who spent his time in the woods...

Makoto's eyes were huge, and he took the notebook like it was some ancient wonder. "Wow... you wrote all of this?" he looked at Rin in awe.

"Well, yeah, we all had to write down the notes," Rin nodded. "I did one at the board, too. And over here, I drew a kitty," Rin pointed to his drawing.

Makoto beamed. "Oh! That's really good! Show me more!"

Rin laughed, and shrugged. "Ok..." He got out his pencil case, and another notebook. He flipped it open, and showed Makoto his history notes.

"Whoa!" Makoto marveled at the pages of text, taking the book from Rin. "That's a lot of markings... Show me!" He flipped the notebook to a blank page and smiled at Rin.

"Sure," Rin laughed, taking a pencil out. He wrote down in very neat letters, MAKOTO IS REALLY FUNNY.

Makoto put his face near the paper, watching Rin's pencil closely and paying attention to how it left marks on the paper. "Whoa! Does it mean something?"

"Yeah, I said you were goofy," Rin laughed.

"Hey!" Makoto pouted, but he looked too cute like that, so it lacked power. "Draw another kitty!"

"Ok, ok," Rin agreed, going back to work. Makoto went back to watching his pencil, so Rin took his time, giving the kitty a really fluffy tail, and long whiskers.

"Wow! I knew you were talented, Rin!" Makoto beamed. "Let me try!"

"Here," Rin handed Makoto the notebook and the pencil. 

Makoto made a comical _serious face_ , concentrating very hard on holding the pencil stead and making his lines on the paper steady. He reminded Rin so much of when he taught Gou how to spell her name. Makoto looked up and smiled at Rin. "It's Haru!"

Rin looked at the notebook, but what Makoto drew wasn't recognizable as anything except for perhaps something avant garde. "That looks nothing like Haru," Rin laughed.

Makoto frowned at the paper. "Well... I tried..." 

Rin ruffled Makoto's hair, grinning. "It's a good thing you're not in my class. Oh, but you might..." He bent down and pulled out his science book. Makoto was fascinated by it immediately, probably because of the picture of the tree and the bear on the cover. Rin opened it to the end of the second chapter, and showed Makoto the page with his assignment. "We're supposed to identify as many trees as we can by the seeds..."

Makoto pointed to the first one right away. "That's an elm. And a maple. That's a plum. Box elder. Cherry. White walnut. Oak. Beech. Locus. Hickory. Sycamore. Spruce."

"Wow! You really knew them all!" Rin marveled, quickly scrambling to write it all down.

"Of course I did!" Makoto laughed, and Rin wasn't sure why it was funny that the kid who didn't know how to write or even use a pencil could easily rattle off every tree in his book, but it was fine. 

Everything about Makoto was fine.

Since he'd already started his science homework, he just finished it with Makoto, showing Makoto the pictures in the book while trying not to laugh at the funny faces that Makoto made at the things he'd never seen before. After that, Rin had to do math problems, which Makoto thought looked like some sort of game, and then he had write ten lines about something in history. Makoto was certain that Rin had the neatest handwriting in the world, and that maybe he could win awards with his handwriting. Rin certainly wasn't going to argue with him, but...

When he finished it all, he packed his bag back up, but on a whim, he gave Makoto one of his erasers, since Makoto had helped him by doing his erasing for him. The one he gave Makoto was shaped like a soccer ball, and Makoto thought it was the strangest thing he'd ever seen, but he neatly put it away in his pocket, and thanked Rin.

Reluctantly, Rin got up to head back to the house. If he didn't come home before too late, he'd be in trouble again, he knew. As he stood up, Makoto's face fell.

"I suppose... you really _have_ to go back, huh?" Makoto asked, rubbing where the eraser was in his pocket.

"Yeah, don't wanna give that old man any more reason to yell at me," Rin tried to joke, but a look passed over Makoto's face.

So... Makoto could get angry, too, huh?

"No one should yell at you," Makoto stubbornly insisted.

"That would be nice," Rin agreed. "I guess... I'll see you..." Rin started to turn to go. Makoto would never go back to... where he lived unless Rin turned first.

This time, though, Makoto grabbed Rin's hand. Rin blinked, looking at where Makoto was touching him, and then he looked into Makoto's green eyes.

"You'll come back, though... I mean. You can always come and find me, Rin. Always." Makoto squeezed Rin's hand to emphasize his point.

Rin smiled, and squeezed Makoto's hand back, feeling confident from the warmth of Makoto's hands. "I know. Thanks."

Makoto nodded, but he looked out in the direction of the house, troubled.

It gave Rin comfort to know that Makoto didn't like his stepfather, either.

  


* * *

  


"MAKOTO!" Rin dashed through the trees, staying close to Haru. "MAKOTO! You're here, aren't you?" Rin begged, desperately.

"Rin!" Makoto appeared before him, and Rin noticed but didn't care that he appeared to shimmer for a moment as he stepped into view.

Rin grabbed onto Makoto's arms, digging his fingers in as tightly as he could, but Makoto didn't even flinch. "I'm sick of it! I'm sick of _ALL_ of it!"

"Rin, what happened to your face?" Makoto asked, both frightened and concerned.

"That bastard beat me up again! I thought things would be better once I was in high school! I worked my _ass_ off getting into that snotty rich kid club he wanted me to go to, and I'm even in the top third of the class, but does he care? I've given up my _friends_ , swimming, everything... and still nothing I do could ever come close to being good enough! You know, he even had his servants throw out the picture of my dad that I had in my drawer? And when I asked him about it, he just sneered something about how _my heir can't be such a sentimental fool_... as if I'd _ever_ take _anything_ from him _willingly!_ But you know what the worst part is?" Rin asked, his voice cracking.

Makoto answered by pulling Rin into a bear hug. Makoto's chest felt as wide as the oldest tree on earth, and soft and comforting as a cat's belly. 

Sniffling, Rin continued, but now he was fighting back tears. "When he first slugged me, Gou just turned and looked away. She didn't... didn't even ask him to stop or anything. And mom only said something when _I_ raised my fist to fight back. She wanted _me_ to stop. She just... she wanted... me to just... _take it_... I don't... is it... all my fault? I'm the only one who can't seem to be happy here. Maybe it _is_ me..."

"It's _not_ you," Makoto replied fiercely. He wrapped his arms around Rin even tighter, and rubbed his cheek against the top of Rin's head. "You're _not_ at fault here. I don't know why this is all happening... but I know _you!_ And there's nothing wrong with you!"

"I don't know what to do," Rin despaired. "I don't... I don't know... Mom said I couldn't fight back, so I didn't, I just ran away, but... what am I going to do? I can't... I can't go back, I don't... I don't ever want to go back there! Why should I? Nobody cares about me..."

" _I_ care, Rin," Makoto said. His chest moved as he took deep breaths, and then he pulled back to look Rin in the eye. He seemed to be evaluating Rin, but Rin couldn't make sense of anything anymore. "Rin... do you want to go somewhere... a place you won't be hurt again, a place where your stepfather can't follow you?"

Rin sniffled and gulped, and he looked up at Makoto and really _looked_ at him. He was about to answer glibly, but it was like time stopped for a moment and everything shifted. He became deeply and fully aware that this... 

This was a very dangerous question.

He tried to keep his breathing even so he could calm down, so he could _think_ , but Makoto's emerald eyes were watching him, and Rin had vague awareness about things he couldn't possibly know. Makoto was very serious. What Makoto was offering... it was real...

"I do," Rin nodded. "I wanna go away with you."

"Are you sure?" Makoto asked sharply. "If you come with me... you won't ever be able to come back."

Rin swallowed. He wanted to ask a million things, but he knew the answers wouldn't make sense. "I-I'm sure, I can't do this anymore, I want to go, I want to leave..."

"You won't see your sister again. Or your mother. They'll worry about you, and they'll never know what happened," Makoto sadly told him, separating from Rin.

Rin just nodded. This was very, very dangerous. His heart was pounding. There was a huge, huge part of him that was screaming to go back, to get away from this boy who couldn't be. But. Go back where? Rin's heart felt dark and empty. 

There was nowhere for him, right?

"I'll go, let's go, I want to," Rin nodded firmly.

Makoto took a step toward Haru, and held out his hand. Makoto wasn't human. Rin had probably always known it, but now he could _see_. Makoto's hair wasn't brown, it was green, and it wasn't hair, it was grass, or leaves, something. There was even a flower there. Makoto's skin wasn't human skin, it was many different colors and it played with the light. Makoto wasn't wearing clothes, his bare chest gleaned, and his lower half looked like it might be bark. He was holding out a hand to Rin, and his hand wasn't a human hand, the tips of his fingers came to a point, and they became ruby-colored. 

"Will you come, Rin?"

This was a trap, and Rin took Makoto's hand, willing.

Makoto stepped into Haru, and he started to sink down into the water. The stream wasn't deep, certainly not deep enough for Makoto's big body, but he sank down anyway. Rin followed him, and as he touched the water, he saw that someone under the waves was lifting up the water as if it were a comforter on a bed. There was light beyond that blinded Rin.

"Will you come?"

Rin could see it. Maybe his body would be found in these woods, in this water, or maybe he'd never be found. He could see his mother pacing through the halls of her too-grand and too-empty house night after night, her young face earning tracks that time had not laid down. He could see his sister listlessly wandering through the library, taking a book of poems off the shelf, and sobbing softly to herself as she read. Would they send Sousuke a letter? Ask him to tell them if, by chance, Rin contacted him? 

He could see it, and he was scared, very scared, but he kept following Makoto, under the weight of the water, and out of the world.

The light only got brighter as he entered into it, and it felt as if he was surrounded, like he was submerged but not, as if he was floating in too much light, and it was flooding all his senses. He had no sense of time nor of position. He opened his eyes, and it was too bright to see. He closed them, and it was heavy with bright. He opened them again, and it was dark. He closed them, and he felt like it was blue.

He heard a voice. 

"You shouldn't have brought him, he's not one of us."

"He'll become one of us," and that was Makoto, that was Makoto's voice.

"He's human. It's not right. Maybe things would have gotten better for him. Human ways are not our ways. We shouldn't interfere."

"You saw how he was injured! I couldn't just leave him, could I, Haru?"

"...This was still a mistake."

A soft sigh. "I'll take responsibility for it. It will be fine."

Rin opened his eyes. He couldn't see. There were forms, and he _felt_ that the forms were Makoto and Haru, but he didn't know. He reached out, but no matter how far he reached his hand never got closer to anything.

"I wonder what sort of faery he'll be born as!" Makoto wondered. "Maybe something with fire? He has such pretty red hair! Or! Maybe he'll be a kitty faery!"

"Are there kitty faeries? If he's a fire faery, he'll burn you. Trees and fire don't get along."

"But a water faery could put out the fire," Makoto teased.

" _You're_ the one taking responsibility for him. Why should _I_ have to help?" Haru sniffed disdainfully.

"Aww. I bet you'd help me."

"Hmn. Do you really love him this much?"

"Of course I do!" Makoto declared. "Rin is kind, and he's funny, and he's smart, and he's sort of flashy, but it's fun! He gave me cake and little rubbery things in weird shapes and he drew pictures for me! I'll love him forever!"

"Fine, if he sets you on fire, I'll help. A little."

Rin smiled, and closed his eyes. There might be something he was forgetting, but he was sure everything would be fine. He hoped he wouldn't be the kind of faery who would set Makoto on fire, though.

  


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End file.
